NATO Assistant Secretary: No unilateral opening of the Ibër Bridge

Ruge has said he does not want to see KFOR soldiers set before a wave of danger.

I have known Prime Minister Kurti since 2002 when I have served in Kosovo and have great respect for him. When we talk about the Ibër Bridge, I need to repeat what I said in August and what Admiral (Sturt) Munsch, command commander in Naples, that we do not want a unilateral step in this bridge. We understand that this bridge has been the subject of discussions in dialogue mediated by the European Union”, Ruge said.

He further said he wants no unilateral action at the opening of the Ibër Bridge, and that he expects all sides to be involved in communication.

There's an agreement on principles that should be fully opened, so not only for pedestrians but also vehicles, but we don't want any unilateral action for this, it doesn't help, and what we expect is that all parties will be involved in communicating with local residents, and one reason why we don't want it is that we have our soldiers on the bridge that we don't want to see placed before a wave of danger, so we expect the parties to respect this”, he was shown in Klan.

He has also said that NATO does not plan to increase its presence in Kosovo.

No, we don't plan. I think we have good consolidation actually. We've brought troops of backup operational force, we're looking closely at the situation, but in general, as far as the level of force is concerned, we feel we have what we need to keep the environment calm and safe”, Ruge said.